It’s Thanksgiving day, one of my favorite holidays. I love the food, family time, the weather, but one thing that can always annoy me is the dinner conversations. Those can always be awkward. Of course since I’m at college I get all the college questions. And the one I dreaded the most was the question…
Distant Aunt: So, what are you majoring in?
Yep, that question. I had always been going back and forth on what I wanted to do. I thought I had it all figured out and then I got to college. And then I thought I figured it out again, and now I’m on a different path. Still, the question is always annoying and anxiety provoking for me. I’d never known what I wanted to do right away, but my sister and father knew exactly what they wanted to do as soon as they could even put it into sentences that were barely comprehensible. But, despite me still not fully knowing and dreading the question, I answer anyway with fake confidence and cheerfulness in my voice.
Me (cheerfully): Well it was English and Education, but now I’m thinking of French and Education with an English minor!
Distant Aunt: English? French? Education? What are you going to do with that – be a librarian or be a teacher who makes absolutely nothing?
Ahh yes, of course. The constant question “what are you going to do with that degree?” It annoys me to no end. People can be successful without being a doctor, you know that?! Not every successful person in the world was into science or math, arts and humanities matter too, you know?! It’s always so frustrating because that question is always followed up with-
Distant Aunt: You do know that teachers don’t make a lot of money, don’t you?
And there it is again ladies and gentleman! Right on time! The classic question about money. Because apparently money means everything. I guess since I’ll never make enough money, I guess I should marry a rich business man who has a trust fund that his dad set up for him way before he was born. Well guess what? That’s not what I want to do!
You don’t go into teaching because of the money, you go into it because you love working with students and you love the content you’ll be teaching. I come from a long line of educators, teaching is practically in my blood. There is no better feeling than seeing the “lightbulb moment” when a student finally understands what you’ve been explaining or working on. That’s why you go into teaching. It’s more than just money to me, I want to be fulfilled from my job.
Me: It isn’t about the money for me, it is and always will be about the love I have for the content I’ll teach and the students. Money doesn’t buy me happiness and I don’t think it ever will, but thanks for your input!
After I finish talking, I turn back to the Thanksgiving feast in front of me. I ignore the negativity and focus on eating as much turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing I can. Happy Thanksgiving!
I really enjoyed reading your post this week! I liked how you incorporated both the conversation and your internal monologue. The layout of your post made these two parts really easy to follow. I too feel the frustration with the reactions I often get when I tell family members I plan to major in English, so I connect with much of your internal monologue. Overall, I liked the tone of the piece and the format, both making this an interesting post to read.
I can definitely relate to the tone of your post a lot, and it was really enjoyable to read. I tried to channel the same sort of grin-and-bear-it frustration in mine using a similar method with the emphasis. I like how you use the boldness both to emphasize your personal thoughts and to denote the speaker. I also like the use of the color blocks, it really serves as a way of focusing back in to show the reader that we’re back out of the narrator’s thoughts and into the conversation again. The personal tone, emphasis and color blocks all work together to really put readers into the narrator’s head.
I relate to your post so much, especially the inner monologue at the beginning about the uncertainties of what you truly want to do! I agree with the two previous comments about the excellent use of text boxes and bold, to recenter the conversation and to contrast what is being said and what is not said. The bold helps to emphasize the sarcasm and annoyance. I like your use of “you” in this, a conversation with your reader that will draw them in and make them relate.
I really like this post and how you made the text transition easily between the conversation and your inner monologue. You did a really good job of emphasizing your annoyance to your family’s questions by writing word in bold that portray this feeling. I connected to this post when reading about how you felt frustration from your family’s predictable questions because I have felt the same way for many years while enduring the constant onslaught of these textbook questions from my family about my future.
There is a double-statement at the conclusion of your post. They both say the same thing. The first represents thought. Everything you want to say, or everything you have thought since. The second statement, in quotes, represents speech. You do not capture all the words imagined, though you express just enough to make a strong point. Repeating information presents risks. You are likely to bore your audience, though here I thought it was fine. Effective even. I might shorten it a little bit though.
I can’t be certain as to what works there, but I believe that it is that you tie my interests to yours. By expressing in such honest terms what you want, I want you to have that. Then, by expressing it, I can root for you as you follow through. That speech-act forwards your ultimate goal of becoming an educator by affirming that out loud to a detractor. It is a victory on the long road to becoming an educator.
Good luck!
The best part about this piece, to my mind, is definitely the form. As I mentioned in class, your usage of bolded text throughout the piece places emphasis on the most important sections, or sets up for a following line, as in the line “that question is always followed up with-” Additionally, the block boxes for dialogue allow readers to clearly follow the conversation that’s going on, as well as identify what parts are simply things thought but that remain unsaid–this contrast between what is said and what is unsaid also serves the piece well. While the dialogue and inner thoughts are very well visualized, I would like to see more of the scene itself in addition to the dialogue. Tidbits come through, “the food, family time, the weather,” or “the Thanksgiving feast in front of me.” but it would be nice to see a few more details sprinkled throughout.